Genesis 19
1 And two of the messengers come towards Sodom at even, and Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeth, and riseth to meet them, and boweth himself — face to the earth,
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot happened to be sitting at the entrance to Sodom, and when he saw them he stood up to meet them, and bowed low with his face to the ground.
2 and he saith, 'Lo, I pray you, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, unto the house of your servant, and lodge, and wash your feet — then ye have risen early and gone on your way;' and they say, 'Nay, but in the broad place we do lodge.'
“Sirs, please come and stay with me for the night,” he said. “You can wash your feet and then be on your way early in the morning.” They replied, “No, it's fine. We'll spend the night here in the square.”
3 And he presseth on them greatly, and they turn aside unto him, and come in unto his house; and he maketh for them a banquet, and hath baked unleavened things; and they do eat.
But Lot insisted, and they went with him to his house. He made them a meal and baked bread for them to eat.
4 Before they lie down, the men of the city — men of Sodom — have come round about against the house, from young even unto aged, all the people from the extremity;
But they hadn't even gone to bed before the men of Sodom, young and old, from every part of town, came and surrounded the house.
5 and they call unto Lot and say to him, 'Where [are] the men who have come in unto thee to-night? bring them out unto us, and we know them.'
They shouted out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out here to us so we can have sex with them.”
6 And Lot goeth out unto them, to the opening, and the door hath shut behind him,
Lot went out to talk to them in the doorway, closing the door behind him.
7 and saith, 'Do not, I pray you, my brethren, do evil;
“My friends, please don't do such an evil thing!
8 lo, I pray you, I have two daughters, who have not known any one; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do to them as [is] good in your eyes; only to these men do not anything, for therefore have they come in within the shadow of my roof.'
Listen, I've got two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you want, but please don't do anything to these men. It's my responsibility to look after them.”
9 And they say, 'Come nigh hither;' they say also, 'This one hath come in to sojourn, and he certainly judgeth! now, we do evil to thee more than [to] them;' and they press against the man, against Lot greatly, and come nigh to break the door.
“Out of our way!” they shouted. “Who do you think you are, coming to live here and now trying to judge us? We'll do even worse things to you than we were going to do to these men!” They rushed forward at Lot and tried to break down the door.
10 And the men put forth their hand, and bring in Lot unto them, into the house, and have shut the door;
But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot, dragged him inside, and slammed the door shut.
11 and the men who [are] at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
Then they made all the men in the doorway, young and old, suddenly go blind so they couldn't find the door.
12 And the men say unto Lot, 'Whom hast thou here still? son-in-law, thy sons also, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city, bring out from this place;
The two men asked Lot, “Is there anyone else here who's part of your family—sons-in-law, or sons or daughters, or anyone else in the town? If there are, make sure they leave,
13 for we are destroying this place, for their cry hath been great [before] the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth send us to destroy it.'
because we are about to destroy this place. The complaints that have reached the Lord about its people have become so bad that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 And Lot goeth out, and speaketh unto his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters, and saith, 'Rise, go out from this place, for Jehovah is destroying the city;' and he is as [one] mocking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
Lot went immediately to speak to the men who were engaged to marry his daughters. “Get up quickly and leave,” he said, “because the Lord is about to destroy the town!” But they thought it was just a joke.
15 And when the dawn hath ascended, then the messengers press upon Lot, saying, 'Rise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are found present, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.'
At dawn, the angels begged Lot to be quick, telling him, “Hurry up! Leave right now with your wife and your two daughters here, otherwise you'll be wiped out when the city is punished.”
16 And he lingereth, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of Jehovah unto him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest without the city.
But Lot hesitated. The men grabbed his hand, and those of his wife and two daughters, and dragged them along, leaving them outside the town. The Lord was kind to them to do this.
17 And it cometh to pass when he hath brought them out without, that he saith, 'Escape for thy life; look not expectingly behind thee, nor stand thou in all the circuit; to the mountain escape, lest thou be consumed.'
As soon as they were outside, one of the men said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains otherwise you'll be destroyed!”
18 And Lot saith unto them, 'Not [so], I pray thee, my lord;
“Please sir, not that!” Lot replied.
19 lo, I pray thee, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou dost make great thy kindness which thou hast done with me by saving my life, and I am unable to escape to the mountain, lest the evil cleave [to] me, and I have died;
“If you don't mind, since you have already been so kind to me by saving my life, don't make me run to the mountains—I just can't make it. The destruction will overtake me and I'll die!
20 lo, I pray thee, this city [is] near to flee thither, and it [is] little; let me escape, I pray thee, thither, (is it not little?) and my soul doth live.'
Look, there's a town nearby that's close enough to run to, and it's so small. Please let me run there—it's really very small. It would save my life.”
21 And he saith unto him, 'Lo, I have accepted thy face also for this thing, without overthrowing the city [for] which thou hast spoken;
“Fine—I'll do as you ask,” he replied. “I won't destroy this town you've mentioned.
22 haste, escape thither, for I am not able to do anything till thine entering thither;' therefore hath he calleth the name of the city Zoar.
But hurry up and run there quickly, because I can't do anything until you get there.” (This is why the town was called Zoar.)
23 The sun hath gone out on the earth, and Lot hath entered into Zoar,
The sun had already risen by the time Lot reached Zoar.
24 and Jehovah hath rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens;
Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 and He overthroweth these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground.
He completely destroyed the towns and all their inhabitants, the whole valley and everything growing there.
26 And his wife looketh expectingly from behind him, and she is — a pillar of salt!
But Lot's wife, who was lagging behind, looked back, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham riseth early in the morning, unto the place where he hath stood [before] the face of Jehovah;
Abraham got up early the next morning and went back to where he had stood before the Lord.
28 and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley floor, and saw the land burning, sending up smoke like from a furnace.
29 And it cometh to pass, in God's destroying the cities of the circuit, that God remembereth Abraham, and sendeth Lot out of the midst of the overthrow in the overthrowing of the cities in which Lot dwelt.
When God destroyed the towns of the valley he didn't forget the promise he made Abraham, and he saved Lot from the destruction of the towns where Lot was living.
30 And Lot goeth up out of Zoar, and dwelleth in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he hath been afraid of dwelling in Zoar, and he dwelleth in a cave, he and his two daughters.
Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left town and went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
31 And the first-born saith unto the younger, 'Our father [is] old, and a man there is not in the earth to come in unto us, as [is] the way of all the earth;
Sometime later the older daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is growing old, and there's no men left to give us children like everyone does.
32 come, we cause our father to drink wine, and lie with him, and preserve from our father — a seed.'
Come on, let's get our father drunk with wine and sleep with him so we can keep his family line going.”
33 And they cause their father to drink wine on that night; and the first-born goeth in, and lieth with her father, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up.
So they got their father drunk with wine that night. The older daughter went and slept with him, and he didn't notice when she lay down or when she got up.
34 And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the first-born saith unto the younger, 'Lo, I have lain yesterday-night with my father: we cause him to drink wine also to-night, and go thou in, lie with him, and we preserve from our father — a seed.'
The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, “Last night I slept with our father. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight and you can go and sleep with him so we can keep his family line going.”
35 And they cause their father to drink wine on that night also, and the younger riseth and lieth with him, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up.
So once again that night they got their father drunk with wine and the younger daughter went and slept with him, and he didn't notice when she lay down or when she got up.
36 And the two daughters of Lot conceive from their father,
This is how both Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37 and the first-born beareth a son, and calleth his name Moab; he [is] father of Moab unto this day;
The older daughter had a son, and she called him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.
38 as to the younger, she also hath born a son, and calleth his name Ben-Ammi: he [is] father of the Beni-Ammon unto this day.
The younger daughter had a son too, and she called him Ben-ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
